A Derby woman said a cat died after vile sadists tied two firework rockets to it and set them off.

Sam Copeland-Whelan said she has been left "absolutely heartbroken" after her brother found the cat still alive in Thorndike Avenue, Alvaston, at around noon today.

The 32-year-old, who has six cats, said her brother phoned her when he found the cat to warn her to keep her "beloved" pets safe. He also called an emergency vet but the cat had died when they arrived shortly afterwards.

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A spokesman for Derbyshire police said it was appealing for witnesses over the incident.

Sam, of Benson Street, Alvaston, said: "This is horrific, it's upset me so much. My brother told me straight away and then phoned one of our local vets who came straight to the scene. He said when he came across it the cat was still alive, although it was in a very bad way. It had been tortured.

Sam-Copeland-Whelan has been left horrified by the sick attack on a cat in Alvaston

"It had two firework rockets attached to it. All of its fur was no longer on it and one of its legs had been ripped off. The fireworks had gone off. It looked appalling and by the time the emergency vet came to the scene it had sadly died. It did well to survive so long. It's so sad and tragic. My brother believes the cat was pinned down and then had the rockets attached to its body.

"I'm gutted. I have six cats myself and they are my babies. How a so-called human being can do this to a cat is absolutely beyond me. It's vile. I'm now keeping all of my cats inside until Bonfire Night blows over. I'm not taking the the risk and I would urge all other cat owners to do the same thing. If anybody did anything like that to my cats I would be absolutely destroyed."

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Sam, a duty manager at Iceland in Alvaston, said her brother, who has four cats, was left "deeply upset" by the discovery. She said: "It's one of those things that nobody can understand. It's really shocked him. He did the right thing by phoning the vets. It's an absolute tragedy. It's making me sick thinking that somebody is out there doing that sort of thing.

"The vet told my brother the cat was micro-chipped, so they are in the process of finding the owner. My thoughts are with them because this is so bad."

In June, a 19-year-old cat called Snoopy was tortured by a group of youths. She was kicked a number of times, had bottles thrown at her and a skateboard ran over her body in Coleman Street in Alvaston.

Thankfully, she has made a full recovery after being adopted.

Sam added: "I cannot believe it's happened in this area again. What is going on? It's disgusting. How would they like it if it was done to their family pets?"

A spokesman for Derbyshire police appealed for members of the public to contact them on 101 and quote incident reference number 592 of today's date if they know who is responsible or if they witnessed the incident.